


Tickletober Day 3 - Stocks [LATE]

by august_anon



Series: Tickletober 2020 [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Team Bonding, Tickling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:15:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26827213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/august_anon/pseuds/august_anon
Summary: What else is Aang supposed to do when he finds a set of stocks in an abandoned town? NOT see if he could fit in them?Warning: This is a tickle fic!!
Series: Tickletober 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949143
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	Tickletober Day 3 - Stocks [LATE]

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry this is late! I literally forgot I was a person yesterday so I forgot to put the fic up lol. Just means y'all get two today!
> 
> Also, not super proud of this one. It's one of my least favorite days out of all of them (not a huge fan of stocks or feet tickles), so I'm not super into it, but hopefully you guys get more enjoyment out of it than I did! I think I also forgot to edit this but it's whatever lol.

It wasn’t uncommon for them to come across abandoned towns on their travels.

Some had just been too small to hold on, the inhabitants moving into cities to have better access to supplies. Some were ages old, the cause of their abandonment long lost to history. And, unfortunately, some had been razed to the ground thanks to the war.

Thankfully for them, the town they’d come across this time was one seemingly lost to history. The buildings and streets were old and dilapidated, but there were no signs of destruction or war. It gave them enough peace of mind for them to actually feel safe spending the night there, rather than continuing on to sleep somewhere in the wilderness.

This also, of course, meant a lot of exploring was to be done.

For the most part, the group of them didn’t find many interesting things. Katara found a pretty old hair comb. Toph sensed an advanced underground sewer system, despite the age of the town. Sokka found a few old swords, but they were far too rusty for use. Zuko didn’t seem too keen on exploring, sticking near Sokka.

Aang was certain he’d found the most interesting thing.

It was a weird, wooden chair in the town square, leg posts built deep into the ground so it couldn’t be moved. It had a wooden board at the base of it with two holes: a set of stocks. At the other end was a wooden pole sticking straight up in the air, presumably for a backrest. Behind that, was another set of smaller stocks facing toward the ground, presumably for someone’s arms.

What else was Aang supposed to do but sit in it?

He was barely tall enough to lean up against the back pole while still being able to stick his feet through the stocks at the base of it. Aang stuck his tongue out as he wriggled his arms behind him, feeling around for the arm holes and sticking his hands through them. Just like the last time Aang had found himself in a set of stocks, everything was far too big for him: he could slip right out if he wanted to.

“Aang?” Katara called from down the road. “What are you doing?”

“Getting arrested,” Aang replied calmly.

“What?!”

So fast it was almost comical, the rest of the group gathered in the square around Aang. Toph had been laughing the whole way over, having already been able to sense what Aang was up to before she got there. Sokka was clearly amused, as well, while Katara and Zuko just looked confused.

“You know what?” Sokka eventually said. “This is giving me flashbacks to Avatar Day.”

Zuko and Toph’s faces scrunched up in confusion.

“What’s  _ Avatar Day _ ?” Toph asked.

Sokka shrugged. “Long story short, Aang got arrested for something one of his past lives did.” He paused. “You know, I never did get you back for messing up your defense  _ so bad _ . And after all the hard work I did!”

Aang’s jaw dropped. “How was I supposed to remember all that?!”

Sokka darted forward and squeezed his knee, making Aang squeal. “Katara and I remembered it!”

“Wait, Sokka, no--!”

Aang didn’t bother fighting off his giggles as Sokka’s hands formed into claws and latched onto his knees, squeezing away. He bounced his legs to appeal to the part of his brain that wanted to squirm, making the stocks his ankles were stuck through shake, but he didn’t pull away. They’d all been so busy and stressed out lately, they hadn’t messed around like the kids they were meant to be in a  _ while _ , and Aang was gonna take advantage of it where he could.

“You know what?” Katara said. “Sokka’s right. We deserve revenge for all that trouble.”

“Katara--” Aang squeaked, squirming as she drew closer to his upper body.

Once her fingers started scribbling on his sides, he was laughing too hard to even get out his false protests anymore. Aang had always been ridiculously ticklish, and it wasn’t a fact he worked particularly hard to hide or deny. Probably the only one who could rival him in ticklishness was Zuko, but he was hard to catch off-guard enough to tickle, so Aang was usually the group’s favorite.

Not that he particularly minded. It was fun to play around with his friends, after all.

Aang almost went back on all of that when Toph’s ruthless fingers began attacking his feet. Just like the rest of her, her fingers were rough and calloused from all her earthbending and scratched at his feet in the worst (best?) of ways.

“What did I do to you?” Aang managed to wheeze out before all his breath was lost to laughter once more.

Through his squinted, teary eyes, he saw Toph shrug.

“I dunno, I just felt like it.” She looked back toward Zuko. “Come on, Sparky, get in on this.”

Zuko looked lost for a minute, hands hovering awkwardly in the air as he stood a few feet away. “I don’t--”

“Oh, lighten up,” Toph said. “Look, he likes it. He can get out of the stocks whenever he wants.”

As if to help her prove her point, Toph hit the spot underneath his toes that made him jerk away every time. Aang swiped his foot back, slipping easily through the hole in the stocks, and tried to rub away the tickly feeling on his opposite leg. Sokka squeezed that knee and made Aang shriek and stuff his leg back through the hole as he kicked out.

“Here,” Sokka said. “You take over here, I’ll get his armpits.”

Without waiting for a response, Sokka dragged Zuko over and positioned him where Aang’s knees were. Sokka himself made his way up to the top of the contraption Aang had stuck himself into and grabbed one of his arms, slipping it out of it’s “restraint” easily, showing once more that Aang was staying where he was of his own free will. He lifted Aang’s arm up and pinned it up above his head, burying his hand into Aang’s armpit. At Aang’s shrill squeal from that, Zuko finally started squeezing away at his knees, though a lot more hesitantly than Sokka had been.

The four of them tickled Aang until his laughter had gone silent, quickly backing off at the lack of noise. Aang quickly pulled all of his limbs out of the too-large holes of the stocks and curled up, accidentally toppling off the seat of the device in the process. Sokka laughed at him as he giggled on the ground.

“You alright?” Katara asked affectionately, reaching down to help him up.

“I’m great,” Aang said.

Once Aang had recovered, the group of them went back to searching for a place in the old town to spend the night, but Aang couldn’t help but notice that everyone seemed more relaxed as they moved on.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'll have day 4 up (witcher fic!) soon!


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